Between this awful weather we are having throughout the Northwest and the lack of WSU sports action, this is easily my least favorite time of the year. With the Mariners sucking again and the OKC Thunder reaching the Western Conference Finals, it is tempting to just collect a few cartons of Cougar Cheese and curl up in my WSU blanket until Fall camp rolls around.
Nonetheless, being an optimistic beacon of positivity, I’d like to provide our loyal readers with five ways to avoid the summer sports blues because I couldn’t think of six. Click on the jump to read more!
1) The Vancouver Canucks: Tonight, the Canucks kick off the Western Conference Finals against Joe Thornton’s San Jose Sharks. While I would never claim to be a hockey expert, I can say that the NHL Playoffs are a time I look forward to every year. Because whether you love or hate hockey, its unbelievably entertaining to take in during the postseason. So, If you are sick of watching Clay Bennett reap the rewards of a corrupt business, tune in to Versus this week to watch the ‘Nucks rock Rogers Arena.
2) Take in a Michael Pineda Start: Tomorrow afternoon, instead of working like I usually do as a lowly intern at a community newspaper, I’m headed south to Safeco Field to watch Michael Pineda pitch against the Minnesota Twins. With the Mariners averaging just 3.5 runs a game through the first month of the season, it’s understandably easy to ignore the repetitive nightly television broadcasts featuring a mumbling Mike Blowers and uninspiring Dave Sims. Thus, my recommendation for any baseball fan is to take in a live Mariners game and enjoy watching Pineda blow away major league hitters with a 100 mph fastball and devastating slider.
3) Attend a Sounders Game: Sure, soccer is probably my 8th favorite sport (just behind women’s roller skating). Nonetheless, any excuse to get really drunk and yell beligerently is fine by me. If you had the chance to watch the Sounders and Timbers last night, you saw Qwest Field rocking like it was a Sunday in late December. With exciting athletic entertainment at a premium throughout the Northwest, going and watching Freddy Montero tear it up on the pitch is as good an option as any.
4 and 5) Attend a Night With Cougar Athletics: This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending a WSU Athletic Foundation event at the Ferry Terminal in Bellingham. The highlights included listening to Paul Wulff and Ken Bone talk about their upcoming seasons and hearing Bill Moos outline the future of WSU Athletics. Moos showed the attendees plans for the upcoming Martin Stadium remodel. Without going into details, you can find the artists’ renderings here: http://www.wsucougars.com/view.gal?id=92960. A few other observations from Tuesday night’s festivities included:
– Paul Wulff was more confident and comfortable than I’ve ever seen him speaking in public. The oft-criticized head coach noted how we would see improvements in the win-loss column in 2011 primarily because our defense will feature more speed and talent than they have in years. He also said that while Andrew Luck is considered the consensus number one draft pick next year, he would still take Jeff Tuel over any guy in the conference. Those are some serious words of praise from a coach whose career depends on Tuel producing.
– Bill Moos went through the details of the new Pac-12 media deal, but he made a point to emphasize how Cougar nation needs to step up and donate money to the athletic program. As a whole, Cougar alumni are generally very stingy. Moos said that needs to change if we are going to compete with the So Cal school’s and Phil Knight U on a consistent basis. Personally, I couldn’t agree with him more.
Obviously, this was technically five things instead of four. You’re going to have to excuse me for being bad at math and incredibly hungover. Have a great week and…
Go Cougs!
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